Western's Andrew Hanson tries to get past Lumen Christi's Chris Daniels (left) and Alex Potter (right) during the game at Lumen Christi High School on Friday, Feb. 22. (Shelby Mack | MLive.com)

JACKSON, MI—Typically, after a team claims its first conference championship in over 15 years, there is a measurable degree of celebration.

But following its 66-44 win over Parma Western Friday night, clinching the Capital Area Activities Gold Division co-championship, the Jackson Lumen Christi boys basketball team immediately began shifting its focus to higher aspirations.

“It’s nice, and we’re excited, but we just have a feeling there is more to come,” said Lumen Christi coach Rick Karasek. “We just have the feeling that this is the start of something good.”

Lumen Christi (16-2 overall, 11-1 CAAC Gold) used a big second-quarter run to give itself a double-digit cushion it never relinquished in claiming the program’s first conference championship since claiming the title of the Capital Circuit in 1997.

The Titans gave a clear message early on in the evening they were not about to let the Panthers spoil their conference title hopes.

Western’s Ryan Conklin scored in the post to give the Panthers a 7-6 lead halfway through the opening quarter. Then Matt Bullinger and the Titans responded.

Bullinger had two assists on Lumen’s next three baskets as Lumen took a 12-7 lead by the end of the quarter. The 6-foot-4 junior then began the second quarter with a 3-pointer, followed shortly thereafter by a layup. A minute later, Bullinger assisted on an Alex Potter layin to complete a 15-0 run spanning nearly eight minutes giving Lumen Christi a 21-9 lead.

“Matt was beautiful. Every time we needed a basket he seemed to put it in and every time we needed a rebound he got it. He and Alex are just wonderful underneath and it allows everyone else to do a lot of different things because they play so well underneath.”

Bullinger was impressive throughout the night, finishing with a game-high 19 points with nine rebounds and six assists.

“When you go back and look at the film, you’re going to see that a lot of those 19 points are off great passes form my guards,” Bullinger said. “But there’s something about playing Western, I get amped up because I know a bunch of people there so I always want to play well against them.”

Western chipped the deficit to eight early in the third quarter. Just a few minutes later, however, Justin O’Dowd hit a Titan 3-pointer to put Lumen Christi ahead by 15.

The Titans ended the third quarter with a flourish when Khari Willis drove the lane and made a terrific pass to Bullinger under the glass who finished with a reverse layup with two seconds to play in the quarter and sent Lumen Christi to the fourth with a 46-32 lead.

Lumen Christi’s lead remained hovering around the 15-point mark the entire fourth quarter as it cruised to the league championship.

“When we’re playing well, in my mind we can complete with most teams in Class B. I really think we can,” Karasek said. “I’m anxious to find out. A lot of us are anxious to find out.”

Willis finished with 15 points and four steals and four assists while Potter finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Amani Bass added 12 points for the Titans.

“It feels pretty good but we always have higher hopes than this,” Potter said of winning the conference title. “We’re looking forward to the next game and then to districts and to see how far we can take this.”

Western (10-10 overall, 5-7 CAAC Gold) was led in scoring by Isaiah Ingles’ 18 points and six assists. Ryan Conklin scored nine for the Panthers while Andrew Hanson added eight.

“I thought our kids competed and did a nice job,” said Western coach Lee Ingles. “We knew it was a tough matchup coming in and we talked about being tough and fighting through adversity and giving them all we could give them and I thought we did that.”